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August 29th, 2011 16:00
PS4000E adding second controller and 8-more drive stacks.
Hi expert,
We have an existing Dell Equallogic PS4000e storage device for about 1.5 years now. The current device consist of one controller and 8-drive of 250GB. Because we are almost close to the storage limitation and decided to expand the existing storage device, we are planning to add a second controller and 8-more drive stack of 250GB drives. My question is how easy or difficult to add the second controller and drive stacks? Does someone had this experience and maybe tell me how to prepare, setup and gotcha's.
Can someone direct to some documentation about how to add a second controller, firmware installation (?) and drives when you already have an existing production configuration?
I really appreciate for any help and advice.
thank you.
Collin
We have an existing Dell Equallogic PS4000e storage device for about 1.5 years now. The current device consist of one controller and 8-drive of 250GB. Because we are almost close to the storage limitation and decided to expand the existing storage device, we are planning to add a second controller and 8-more drive stack of 250GB drives. My question is how easy or difficult to add the second controller and drive stacks? Does someone had this experience and maybe tell me how to prepare, setup and gotcha's.
Can someone direct to some documentation about how to add a second controller, firmware installation (?) and drives when you already have an existing production configuration?
I really appreciate for any help and advice.
thank you.
Collin
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DELL-Joe S
7 Technologist
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729 Posts
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August 30th, 2011 07:00
Regarding the controller, ensure you purchase what is called an “Upgrade Controller”, this will have the proper flash card with Firmware installed. Also, ensure you purchase the controller with the firmware that is in the same family as your current version of firmware, (i.e., if you have v4.3.8 installed, the controller should have 4.3.x firmware). Once installed, run update to get both to the same FW version (if required), you will not have to restart the array.
Regarding adding additional disks, we have a solution for this in our KB, first login to the support site at:
https://support.equallogic.com/secure/login.aspx?ReturnUrl=/support/Default.aspx
Once logged in, goto the Knowledge Base at this address: https://support.equallogic.com/support/solutions.aspx?id=1444
In the search box type: populate
You should see in the results the solution titled: “ARRAY: What is the process for adding additional drives to a half-populated array?”
Regards,
Joe
CMend11
3 Posts
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August 30th, 2011 09:00
Regards,
Collin
DELL-Joe S
7 Technologist
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729 Posts
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August 30th, 2011 14:00
No, when you install the new update controller, the array will not automatically update the FW to the same version as the existing active controller. As stated earlier, ensure you purchase the update controller with the same family FW as the current version.
I would not recommend updating the array to the latest version of the firmware either. This is to reduce any variables in the hardware install process. Once you have installed all your new hardware, you should consider waiting at least a few days to ensure everything is working as expected with the new hardware before updating the firmware.
However, if you purchased the update controller with a newer version of the firmware, then you would need to update the FW first.
When you install the update controller, unless it is exactly the same firmware as the existing controller, you will need to run update in the GUI (to get them both in sync with the active firmware running on the original controller).
Joe
CMend11
3 Posts
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August 31st, 2011 09:00
Collin